Saturday, 26 April 2014

Music Review: Heart of Palm - Mayonnaise

(self released)
CDR
A very welcome return to Wonderful Wooden Reasons for our favourite Ohioan experimentalists HoP as they debut their new 5 piece lineup with the addition of a drummer and a keyboard player / circuit bender. Musically, Faust -particularly the Irmler version - is always going to be your reference point for where HoP are coming from as they produce eclectic, improvised, psychoactive tangles filled with sudden shifts and churning ambiences. The improvisations here are muscular, bordering on violent, punching their way off the CD and treating your woofers likes the dogs they are. What makes HoP so enjoyable for me is that they almost entirely avoid the showboating that can sometimes spoil improvised (and indeed all) music as they always feel as though they are listening and responding to each other and not just flailing.
This sort of thing is never going to be to everyones taste but personally I love it and it is another fascinating step in the development of one of my favourite bands.
(www.fugwub.com)

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